1. Field of the Invention and Discussion of Background Information.
Various types of reheating devices are known utilizing heating mechanical such as microwave ovens, reheating of products stored on trays in a refrigerated enclosure. However, in these reheating devices the operation is performed manually, by introducing each tray that one wishes to heat in the microwave, for just the length of time necessary to reheat the products that it contains. This operation is both long and laborious.
Various types of vending machines for food products or cooked dishes are also known, which, once received by the consumer, are also introduced manually by the consumer into a microwave oven, in order to be reheated in it.
None of these devices are programmable. These devices cannot reheat dishes individually and automatically according to selective reheating sectors; and nor can they automatically dispense them to the consumer.
However, DE-A-3,625,015 describes an automatic device adapted to remove precooked food products, such as pizzas, hamburgers, fries, from a refrigerated enclosure by means of a journalled arm, and introduce these products into a microwave oven to reheat them or to complete their cooking. These products are then placed in a paper plate by virtue of a conveyor belt.
GB-A-1,170,051, describes an automatic dispensing machine for hot food products having of an enclosure that is thermally insulated and includes a storage system having horizontal guides in which mobile containers slide, which may be brought selectively into a microwave oven by means of a complex mechanism enabling horizontal and vertical movements to be combined. Once the articles are heated, they are simply removed from the oven by the consumer after opening an insulating door.
The common elements between the devices is that they use very complex means to manipulate the products to be reheated, and consequently, are subject to functional breakdowns. Further, these devices cannot be applied to the dispensing of meal trays that simultaneously include hot and cold dishes.